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Poster: | ColdRain108 | Date: | Nov 16, 2020 9:21am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: how do you dead ? |
I have a home listening system as well, Denon CD player, Parasound Power Amp, Naim pre-amp, Mirage 890i tower speakers. Sounds very pretty and cultured.
I drive between SEA and PDX to take care of my Mom, the car system is adequate and I get some focused listening time, this is when I learn the songs.
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Poster: | Monte B Cowboy | Date: | Nov 17, 2020 9:30pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: how do you dead ? |
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Poster: | ColdRain108 | Date: | Nov 23, 2020 9:25am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: how do you dead ? |
My issue with regular soundmen at local venues is that we play Dead not rock and roll. The silence is just as important as the sound. Our band needs a full time soundman when we return to action, I find it very difficult to play and run sound at the same time, I've been doing it for a long time now. Was easier when I was just the bass player and only doing backup vocals, but now I'm the front man and the lead guitar. Too much on my plate.
Funny as I used my soundman experience in my last job interview. I was asked how I would deal with a room full of college student getting impatient because a microscope was having an issue...I responded with "I've had to deal with a room full of drunk music fans getting noisily restless while I trace down 50 wires trying to find the one that is failing." And the college students are actually hoping I fail to solve the problem so they can get out of class...not so much with the drunk bar crowd.
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Poster: | Monte B Cowboy | Date: | Nov 23, 2020 12:11pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: how do you dead ? |
The fact that you "find it very difficult to play and run sound at the same time" is exactly how and why I was able to learn about bands and gigs, get my soundman jobs, get into electronics, and become the person I am today. I kept doubling down on everything. I was taping more shows. I was spending most of my time with musicians and bands. In my mind, the GD built me, or at least they launched my career. That's how I made it here.
When I left home and moved far away from where I grew up, it was because I moved in with my musician friend as a roommate. He had just joined a great band and moved far away too. I helped run sound for the band while I was there. Later on I helped the band fix up an old school bus they had. We went to gigs in that school bus with me driving. I was versatile. The band fell apart after six months and I moved away.
I had also been getting into electronics and vocational schools at that time. Then I got my first technical professional job in a TV station. This was 45 years ago. At the time, I was a roommate and soundman living in a musician's rooming house in Louisville. Six months later their band had a major rebellion and they formed a new band. They asked me to be their soundman full time. I quit my full time job and I invested my life's savings to purchase sound equipment for the band, starring Vince Gill and John Jump as lead vocalists and frontmen. Less than six months later it was over. Thanks to The Archive for hosting my tapes, photos, and descriptions of this era.
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Poster: | ColdRain108 | Date: | Nov 23, 2020 1:25pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: how do you dead ? |
I jokingly say I now get paid for what I always got in trouble for as a kid- if the radio broke I took it apart and tried to fix it. Most times I was unsuccessful so I got blamed for breaking it. Now I get to fiddle with 100,000$ pieces of gear.
I have collected my PA through ebay. I have 4 JBL 15" powered speakers, 2 Mackie 450's and 2 Mackie 350's. I also have a couple of non-powered EV floor monitors and a couple of power amps. A nice Allen&Heath mixmaster board. I worked in the BioTech field in the 90's and invested my stock option bonuses in musical gear. I even have one of the original WOS speaker cabinets with a 15" JBL.
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